Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Beginning of Our 2017 Germany Trip

After our fun family visit in PA we drove to the airport in Baltimore. We had dinner at the airport before our evening flight to first Iceland and then Frankfurt.

We flew on WOW Air for the first time and made sure to load our iPads with movies and books for the flight since the plane wouldn't have in-flight entertainment. We also packed snacks and ate at the airports since the food offerings are small and not included. Little Man had no problem occupying himself, and was excited to fly again.

Everything went smoothly until we hit issues with our rental car. First they did not have the car we had reserved. We wound up with an Opel station wagon and as we were about 45 minutes away we had to call and tell them we needed to switch cars because the air conditioning didn't work. We turned around and were 10 minutes away from the airport when we were hit by a truck. Then we had to wait for the police, drive and deal with the paperwork for the car (the rental office wanted us to pay for the totaled car).

Above is the first rental car and below is the truck that hit us.

After the car debacle it took us HOURS to get to my host family's house (we ended up in rush hour traffic), so we didn't get there until much later than we had planned. We were able to sit and spend time with my host father and then eat a pizza dinner before going to bed. We slept until the next afternoon (eek!) and had brunch. We spent time with my host parents and then that evening we drove to the Market Square and had dinner with my host father's sister. We grilled out on the balcony overlooking the square and it was so delicious (Lora owns a butcher shop so she REALLY knows her way around meat). Little Man made fast friends with her dog Paulie, and we all had a great time talking and eating.

The next day we headed to the all weather pool, which was a stop Little Man had requested because he loved it so much last time.

We spent a few hours swimming inside and out and I also went to the sauna and relaxed a bit looking at the garden through a panoramic window...it was a great afternoon.

Later, my host father made a breaded pork chop meal with bleu cheese and preserves with a side of spaetzle...Little Man and Hubby were so impressed!

Little Man and I spent time exploring the backyard...

...he was especially excited to find sticks he could whittle with his new knife from my host father...

...and I walked around seeing what was the same and what had changed...

...there weren't many changes, even the shed that's used for socializing looked pretty much the same.

We also went to the grocery store.

And went walking in the village of Suttrop where my host parents live.

Little Man and Hubby loved the view of the town of Warstein below with the windmill and cows just a 10 minute walk from the house. This path is where they tried to teach me to ride a bike (unsuccessfully) many years ago...I showed Little Man how the path is bordered by prickly bushes.

When we stopped at an outdoor museum for mining we saw this great yarn bomb!

And then it was time for a real German treat...a meal of white asparagus (it was asparagus season, happily)...with boiled potatoes, ham and hollandaise sauce or melted butter. It's a favorite German meal of mine, and was devoured by Little Man and Hubby!